Joel Embiid wished James Harden well.
The 76ers center said he is happy for his former teammate, who got his wish to be traded to his hometown Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday.
But Embiid disagreed with Harden’s assessment that he was held back as a Sixer over the past two seasons.
“I think he’s done a lot of great things for us,” Embiid said Thursday night. “But in my opinion we gave him the ball every possession because he’s really good. He is a great player. Because he’s a great passer, I think obviously we gave him the ball…we gave him the ball every single possession so he could just go out there and, you know, do his thing. And from then on, he had to make decisions, whether it was whether to open up to the boys or whether to take care of himself.
“But I thought he did a pretty good job of getting us on offense and just passing the ball to get the guys on offense. That’s why he won the assist title last year.”
Harden led the NBA last season with 10.7 assists per game and an average of 21.0 points. He became the first Sixer to win the league assist title since Wilt Chamberlain in 1967–68. Harden and Embiid, who won the league’s MVP and his second straight scoring title, formed one of the league’s best duos.
But during his Clippers’ opening press conference on Thursday, Harden painted the picture that he was being held back.
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“Philly is changing my role right now because I know I can get more, because I know I can do more,” Harden said. “But if you want to be honest, it’s like being on a leash.
“As I know, I wanted to do my best offensively to help us get where we want to go, whether it was running the basketball and Joel and scoring. And I never had that opportunity.”
When asked to clarify his statement about the leash, Harden explained that he didn’t mean shooting the basketball all the time. He said he thinks about the game and is a creator on the court.
“So if I had the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, coach, I see this,” Harden said. “What do you think about that? Then it’s like, oh OK. Someone who trusts me, believes in me, who understands me. I’m not a system player. I’m a system.”
He said all he really cares about is having someone who can talk to him and make adjustments on the fly.
“That’s all I really care about,” Harden said. “It’s not about me shooting the basketball and scoring 34 points every night. I already did that.”
The 2018 MVP and three-time leading scorer’s comments were a shot at former coach Doc Rivers. It’s no secret that the two didn’t see eye to eye.
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But people will conclude that Harden is suffering from delusions. It will be said that the 34-year-old wants to regain the freedom of owning the ball.
They’ll say that’s why he wasn’t a good fit for the Sixers. And by voicing his opinion, they wonder whether he will be a good fit in Los Angeles.
But Clippers coach Ty Lue believes Harden, along with All-Star perimeter talent and fellow Los Angeles natives Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Russell Westbrook, will make the necessary adjustments to turn the Clippers into NBA contenders. to make championship.
“Sacrifices will be the biggest thing,” Lue said. “Four guys from LA and four guys who have accomplished a lot in their careers. So they get it and have talked about winning a championship. That’s all we focus on.
“It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice, whether it’s shots, whether it’s minutes. They are ready for this.”
As a Sixer, Harden was at his best as a facilitator and was instrumental in Embiid’s MVP.
Almost half of his assists per game went to the center. Additionally, Harden’s scoring average and shot attempts (14.5 per game) were the lowest of his career since he averaged 16.8 points and 10.1 shots as a third-year player with the Oklahoma City Thunder. So it was about sacrifices that Clippers believe he will continue to make.
“James Harden has top-notch skills and all he cares about is one thing: He wants to win a championship for the LA Clippers,” Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank told the media. “He wants to be part of something bigger than himself. … These guys all have individual success. They made a lot of money. This is about a goal.”
But that was the same goal when he arrived in Philadelphia on February 10, 2022. On the court, Harden often dominated the ball and controlled many things the Sixers did.